Blade in the Shadow
by Akasuna Twirl
Summary: Deidara is an out-of-towner and the first one to witness a murder by the famous red-haired outlaw with his very own eyes. But who is this man? And what does he want with Deidara? This just became personal, and he wasn't going to stop until he peels that mask straight off that criminal's face. -SasoDei


**Yey! It's finally time for me to start a new story! I've been planning this one for quite a while, and consulted a few fellow writers to help me out in planning to type the story xDD But I warn you, chapters will be a bit longer than usual, and updates might take longer, since this is a very special story. Surprise! I wonder if you saw this coming. Well, shall we get started?**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story except for the plot, etc.**

**Warnings: Random murder, sleepy Itachi, a very poor Dei…. And I think that's about it.**

"Bye Konan, un!"Deidara raised his skinny arm up to wave goodbye to his friend. He watched the bluenette get on the sleek, shiny orange motorcycle with her fiancé, a guy with spikey orange hair, and the two drove off. The blonde sighed and walked to his own car. Sure, today had been a very good day, but Deidara was exhausted.

The first day of work was always strenuous; having to go through the business's policies and rules, and the tasks he was going to do and how to do them, all that sort of junk. Deidara had gotten so many new jobs that he had almost memorized what everyone was going to say, each company differing a smidge. Luckily this time around, he had met Konan, a fellow co-worker and a new friend at his workplace. She seemed pretty nice. And her boyfriend, Pein, was very quiet and serious, but also seemed friendly enough. He was the manager of the place.

Deidara worked at an arts and crafts store, which he had thought suited him perfectly, unlike his previous jobs. It would be fine working at the place but first he would have to nail down the first day of introductions, policies, and rules. And just barely had he survived that. At least it was over, and the blonde was relieved.

He was walking on the chipped road to his gray, broken down van, when his mobile buzzed and vibrated in his jean pocket. Deidara wearily fished it out from his pocket and held it to his ear with one bony hand. He pressed the "talk" button.

"Hello?"

A mono tone answered him, and the blonde immediately was able to identify the caller. "Hey, Deidara. How's in going in the new city?"

"Oh, hi, Gaara, un." Deidara replied absentmindedly. He had shared an apartment room with Gaara before he had saved up all his money and bought his share of a two-family house in a different city. The two were really never best pals, but were rather just acquaintances, nothing more, nothing less. It was rare that Gaara would ever check up on him, rather call. "New city's doing fine so far, un. I'm about to meet whoever lives on the other side of the house."

"That's good to hear. But you'd better watch your back. I researched the house's area on the internet. You're in a high crime-rate neighborhood." This perked Deidara up a bit from his loss of interest in the call.

The two had lived in an apartment in a small town, where crime rates were low and probably the worst crime committed there was a parking or speeding ticket. Gaara liked the peace and quiet so he could focus, but Deidara felt the opposite. He was only there because things were cheap at the place, and he couldn't afford to go anywhere else. Sure, it was nice knowing he was safe, but the place lacked the danger and excitement, like an explosion.

"You researched the house I bought, un?" Deidara raised an eyebrow slightly. "And thanks, but I've got impeccable security installed in my house. Even a mouse couldn't get in without being noticed, un." He replied sarcastically. Crime didn't seem anything big to him, and besides, he lived technically in the same house as someone else!

"Well, okay, but I wouldn't be surprised if you got in the way of some smuggling crime. You are always so nosy. I wish you luck, and I called just to tell you I sent a few boxes of packs of instant noodles; heard the food prices over there are rising."

"Thanks, but I gotta go. I need to get home and acquainted with the guy who lives in the place, and you know I hate talking on the phone and driving, un." Deidara shut the phone and opened the unlocked door to his car. He got behind the wheel and started driving to the designated destination. To his pleasure, the house wasn't all that far from his work place, and the traffic wasn't bad either. So why had Gaara said it was a high crime-rate neighborhood? It seemed friendly enough. Not many trees or anywhere for a burglar to hide.

He stopped at an extremely vague-looking house. It was all white, the roof, doors, and boarders of the windows were a dark gray-ish brown. One window was dully lit on the right hand side of the house. The blonde halted his car in front of the building, picking up a piece of paper that read, 1032 Hollow Oak Ave. Yep, this was the place. Creepy name, though.

Locking his car, Deidara walked onto the old wooden porch, which creaked spookily as he stepped on it. He knocked on the hard wooden door. A few moments later, a raven-haired man with onyx-colored eyes answered. His face held no expression, his eyes completely blank.

"Who are you and what do you want?" The mono-toned voice reminded the blonde of Gaara back in the little town.

"U-um, I'm you're new neighbor, I guess, I'm living on the other side of the house. The name's Deidara, un." Something about this guy made his voice shake.

"Oh, in that case, I'm Itachi, and I'll help you bring in your things. Just try not to wake me when I'm _napping_." Again, Itachi responded with absolutely no expression or sharpness in his voice, but even a fool could tell that the raven was very cross and in a very bad mood.

When the blonde had moved, he really didn't have much to take with him. He didn't need a moving truck; all the boxes which held his belongings could fit into his car. Still, he let the raven help carry a few into the house. Somehow the blond could just sense that Itachi was just a bit pleased that he would have to haul much of Deidara's junk into the household.

Deidara set down the last box onto the dusty floor. "That's the last one, un. Thank you for helping." The raven sneezed.

"Ah, it's fine. I don't know when was the last time I knew someone who lived in here; it could use some fixing up. I can call Kisame tomorrow or something to help you out. And if you need anything, just ask, but only if it's an emergency. I don't take this stuff lightly."

The blonde cocked his head to the side in miscomprehension. Who was Kisame? Well, that didn't matter, he would have to unpack his stuff enough to stay the night. And clearly his neighbor was not about to help him do that. After he waved a final goodbye the raven left, closing the door with a creak.

This was the time Deidara realized that this place screamed hollow and scary. He brushed out a few cobwebs in the corners of the room. Other than that, it was just empty and needed someone to inhabit the place. Probably once he unpacked everything, the place would look much friendlier.

Itachi had said no one had lived in this place as long as he could remember. Did that mean the place was haunt- Deidara scratched the thought out of his head. Ridiculous. Haunted? Where was his mind going? Sure, it was pretty spooky being in here by himself, but to think that ghosts actually lived there was insane. They didn't exist.

He looked around for a light switch, his only source of light was the moon shining though the filthy window, and was the reason why he needed to find the light switch. Deidara didn't know the sun would set so fast. It was only 7:45 and the sun had already set. At last he found the light switch and blew the tangled mess of cobwebs there.

The lighting was poor as well. A dim yellow light filled the room. It was only enough for Deidara to find his way in the house, not much more. He would remind himself to buy new light bulbs or hire an electrician to fix the problem. Right now he was just sleepy and ready to go to bed, much too lazy to unpack much.

Too lazy and tired to do anything else, the blonde rested on exploring the house a little. He had a two-story house, much too big for him. There were bathrooms on the top and bottom floor, but the bottom one stunk of a stench Deidara would puke if he knew the source. Other than that, there was just a bedroom, a bathroom, and an extra room on the top floor. He found this place fairly pleasant besides the hollow disposition.

He went down, back to the main room he had started in, and unpacked the small box containing food first. With the supplies he had, he fixed himself a small ham and cheese sandwich for dinner. The kitchen had a very large window and a glass and wired sliding door leading to the extremely small backyard. Beyond it was probably the back of a collage or high school. There was no boarder between this.

Deidara unpacked a small table and placed in the kitchen. He sat on a stool. The blonde started chewing his cold sandwich when a shrill, blood curling, spine chilling scream blasted through the air. He dropped his dinner in shock, and immediately ran next door.

He pounded on the door rapidly, hoping he hadn't interrupted Itachi at a bad time. He struck several times before the door opened. The blonde, so panicked about the situation that he didn't notice that he was pounding on the man's chest.

"Ahem, what is it, Deidara?" Itachi gave him a rusty scowl.

"I-I heard a scream…" Deidara stuttered, trembling terribly in fear. The raven facepalmed.

"You must have come from out of town. Crime rates are high up here. And the area behind that collage- a lot of crimes happen there, just avoid it. You'll get used to it in a while."

Deidara let out a sigh.

"I told you only to come to me in a case of an emergency. I'll let it go this time since you're new to this city- but the next time you bother me like this, you'll wish you hadn't." The door slammed shut in Deidara's face. The blonde sulkily walked back to his shelter. He had made a fool of himself, even after Gaara had told him about the crime rate there.

Still, he was very curious. He walked past the kitchen, opening the sliding door and walking towards the back of the collage. It was risky, since Itachi had warned him to avoid the place, but he was positive that the scream had come from there. He strolled to the horrifying place, trying not to tremble as he did.

Finally, he had reached the end of his territory. His cerulean eyes stretched widely and he had to force himself mentally to not scream and run away, not that he could- he was petrified in fear. Do you know what he saw?

Blood. It wasn't good to be too descriptive of this scene, he would scream, or puke. The red substance splattered all over the walls of the collage and on the gravel ground. Two people were there. One dead, one alive. A pinkette girl lay on the ground, though it was hard to tell since the body was so mangled up and messy.

Her green eyes were hollow, dead. A deep gash was slit on the flesh of her throat. Her clothes were stained with the oozing red liquid and torn badly. Deidara could tell that it was a dress, and it might have been very pretty, if you know what- had happened.

That wasn't really what Deidara was focusing on. A man stood beside her. His face was covered in the red substance and so were the blades of the two daggers he was holding. His brown eyes seemed to almost glow, in a spooky kind of way. His sheen red hair blew in the wind. His gaze turned from the girl to Deidara. The blonde froze.

The man swiftly ran over to Deidara, who was to frozen to move. The redhead halted in front of him. Deidara thought he was going to have a heart attack. The guy drew his arm forward slowly, covered in blood, and dabbed a bit on Deidara's neck. He drew a symbol carefully, even though the blonde couldn't tell what he was doing.

Finally, as the redhead finished, the blonde was still much too paralyzed to move. He shoved his bony hands into his pockets and stopped by Deidara's ear. "I've been waiting for you."

The blonde widened his eyes. This man… was waiting for him?

…

**Woohoo! Got the first chappie done! Ooh, a murder on the first chapter! I'm so evil… And I totally fail at this stuff, because I'm not good at violence, but I hope it is good enough for you, and I hope you like it! I dunno what I should rate it as but if it gets too serious, I might change it to M, but do you think I should change it now? It would help if you answered these questions, and I hope for your feedback! See ya for now!**


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